Enclosed are the ramblings of one of the last of the baby-boomers. My thoughts are of Railroading, Automobiles, Design, Politics, Culture, Religion,and Parenthood.

Mile Post 370

Mile Post 370

Wednesday, June 28, 2017

What I Learned From Being Downsized After 25 years of Service to
MyFormer Employer

If you've just been laid off or downsized after a long career, I offer this as an encouragement to you.
Colonel Harlan Sanders had just gotten successful with his
restaurant (on US 25 in Kentucky) about the time that I-75 was
opened, siphoning off the vast majority of vehicle traffic that
might stop at his restaurant to eat. He sold the real estate part of the restaurant and took his winning recipe
on the road and shopped it around, eventually starting Kentucky Fried Chicken,
franchising it to a restaurateur in Utah, when he was 65.

So, you understand that the end of your career at your current company is
coming. If you want to hear my story, here's what I learned through my experience:

If you want to "re-apply"for your "old (reclassified) job," go for it! But consider this: "Do you really want to work for these guys again (or any more)?" What
could be better than going through the process, being chosen as
the "best candidate?" Turning down the position?
Telling the people who will choose, "No, I don't think so. Not
for the money you're currently paying me?" Nope.
Probably the severance that has been offered and knowing that you've left
something that aggravates you on a daily basis.

We should work to live and should never live to work. Most of the
time, we're just too damn busy making a living or raising a
family to really separate the two. Take a month off and
decompress. Visit places that you've wanted to see. Play golf, plan a weekend alone with your wife or take a motorcycle
journey. You'll feel amazing and I guarantee that except for
the close acquaintances you've made at at your soon to be former employer, you'll be SO
GLAD THAT YOU'RE GONE.

You will go through the "Five Stages of Grief," just as
if you experienced the death of a family member or that of
a close friend. This is the end of your career at where you worked, but you can and should go on. Get up every morning and do your normal "before work" routine. Keep yourself in the habit that was "normal," until you find your new "normal."

Find yourself a support group. Change (when you're
forced to change, without any input) is difficult. Consider you a close acquaintance, who can be available, if you
just need someone to speak with and listen to you.

Look at the bright side: You were paid to do something
that few others could do (after all, you got the job!). Be
thankful (difficult at first, easier as time goes by).

Consider that if you didn't have to work to what would
you do each and every day? Can you actually find a vocation
that can incorporate that goal?

After choosing what you would like to do (something that you enjoy),
decide do you need to work? If so, can it be part time or
does it need to be full time? Do you need money, benefits
or both? Or do you just need to work to have a reason to get up in the morning?

Do you want to live in your current home or downsize
your home to something smaller?

Where do you want to live? If you and your wife could
choose anywhere on the planet to live, where would that be?

With that being said, I'm doing something that is completely
different. But, let me tell you what I did to position myself for
the future: When I was forced out, I took my
Retirement and 401k and rolled them into an IRA account. I
wouldn't take ANY MONEY THAT WAS OFFERED (I was offered 13 weeks
severance pay, where as everyone else was offered 1 paycheck for
every year of service. I had 25.42 years of service, so I should have gotten 25 full and 1 partial paycheck.). So I
bit the bullet, took the penalty for early withdrawal (sounds like
a rule that a woman made up!) and cashed out most of my
retirement, but left my 401k alone. Taking this kept me from
getting almost any Unemployment (maybe $125 per month, IF I'd
just taken any "payoff" from them to keep my mouth shut and promise
not to file suit, but $0.00 for taking the amount of money that I took out of my IRA - with takes
withheld, penalties for early withdrawal, etc. All of that money was counted as income.). It also kept our daughter from getting any financial aid for her first year of
college. (At the time, we weren't thinking how our finances could affect the kids college needs. Hindsight is 20/20).

Then I paid EVERYTHING OFF - the house, my loans to the local Credit Union, old bills to the Doctor's practice (and
strangely enough, they've recently found more from back in 2013
and 2014). Last year, I paid the Feds an additional $8000 in
income taxes for the right to take my own money to do this. The
state got some more tax money as well. In the long run, that was
all right, as I got about 2/3rds of that back in tax returns this
year.

However, this has left me debt free. It's amazing to see
just how little it takes to live if you don't owe anything to
anyone. The world can now kiss my ass, as I just owe what it
takes to live. I'm taking a 72t monthly distribution of what I
have left of my retirement and 401k. It's not much, but it pays
the monthly bills (water, electricity, gas, cell phones (Susan's
and mine), land line and internet and maybe gas for both of the
cars and I still come out ahead with an annual return of about 6%
on my balance.

Here are some of the things I've done since leaving my former career:

For the first year after I left, besides "desperately" looking
for a job, I helped my Dad rebuild the house where he grew up in and
that he currently rents out. It was and is great spending time with him. He's 86
and won't be here long (nothing really wrong with him, but when
you're old, death comes swiftly.).

I've driven a school bus as a substitute, with no benefits and at $12.60/hour.

In the summer of 2016, I worked at the truck
shop of a local utility for $20/hour (plenty of overtime) for about 2 months, as the
Storekeeper/Inventory Control Manager/Buyer, until I figured out
that they weren't serious about giving me the tools to keep the
inventory secure and I found out that my manager was another "privileged jerk," who thinks that he's better
and smarter than anyone that works for him, just like my former manager did. Having made the decision never to work for someone who made fun of others again, I chose to quit BEFORE my 90 day probation period was up.

I went back to drive the bus as a Contract Driver for most
of this year (basically for insurance for the family -which cost
me 2/3rds of my 60 hours x $13.60 per 2 weeks paycheck.***SIDEBAR*** We did without the year before and seriously, we
didn't miss it - and when you consider the 30% discount that we
generally got for paying cash, the cost of insurance - before
taxes, the cost of deductibles, the cost of co-pays and the cost
of name brand drugs, the costs of no insurance wasn't
significantly higher than when we had it, but we had no
significant events either - e.g. kidney stones, broken ankles, Emergency Room visits, et. al.).

I got on at the local logistics delivery company in November as a seasonal
employee, working as a Package Handler in the evening. I
made it through the seasonal employment, well enough to be kept on
for permanent employment, but I had a "second trial period
and the seasonal work did not count towards my seniority date or
retirement.

Since I enjoy driving, my goal is to drive either a
delivery van (or maybe even go all the way to a tractor trailer driver,
requiring a Class A CDL, with Haz-Mat and a Doubles
Endorsements).

So, now I'm currently working part time for
a ridiculously low pay rate - with overtime after 5 hours -
since November 16, 2016). I've lost 35 lbs. since the beginning
of summer, from a 42" waist to a 38" waist (now, I can pull my
old pants down over my ass like any ghetto thug....). Although
the pay is incredibly low (currently $10.20/hour) but, it's the way
in, to achieve my goal as a delivery driver (you have to start from inside
as a package handler - full time delivery drivers make GOOD MONEY). I've passed the "classroom" training for being a
driver/service provider and am in the queue for my
"in truck" training. I'm taking a longer path as a Temporary Driver filling in as necessary, where you return to package handling when you're not driving. The only
question I have is whether my 56 year old back, knees and ankles
can withstand getting on and off of a step van 300+ times per
day. If my body is too old to handle the full time driving
position, I can still return to a part time position. You can't return to part-time Package Handler, once you're a Full-Time Driver.

I found that it's been
great to do Blue Collar work again (getting back to my roots at least 18 years prior to today). For the most part, my upper
back is better than it's been in many, many years of Office Work, sitting at a desk. I am a
member of the Teamsters Union. My seniority date is January 16, 2017. I'm
currently working about 5 hours/day in the evening and I
was driving the bus about 6 hours per day and sleeping between
each of the 3 hour shifts and about 4 to 5 hours each night
(this is not the same as sleeping for 7 to 8 continuous hours,
despite the amount of time being the same and quite often I
would "bounce" rather than sleep between shifts.). I quit that
job
in early May (primarily due to a chronic lack of sleep, but I'd
gotten bumped to a part time Substitute when I took the class,
losing my insurance and forcing me to purchase insurance through
COBRA. At that point, I had no reason to continue as an
employee.).

I see the trucks I designed and spec'ed from my old job vehicles EVERY DAY, as the company, which decals those vehicles is directly across from where I work. I'm still proud of the job I did with my teams (Lenny P., Jery H., Marty B., Brian and the guys on the floor of the shop that made vehicle plans into reality, "Super Todd," Rusty, and "Haz-Matt" at my old company - these guys gave me the input to aggregate their needs concerns and innovations into a complete vehicle specification that fulfilled their driver technician's needs.) But on day one of Severance, I made the decision that "these were no longer my trucks." They were just my design, based on everyone's needs.

I miss my close
acquaintances at my old job, but won't ever miss working at there or in my old department there. The company unwittingly did me a HUGE favor:
They allowed me to become debt free and leave a job (that changed
from its original mandate) that I hated! And for that I will give thanks!

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About Me

I'm one of the last of the Baby Boomers, married to another one of them. We live in middle class suburbia, in what used to be a small town, but is now a bedroom community of a City large enough to have a professional sports team.
We've raised 2 kids the old fashioned way, with my wife staying at home on a middle class income, while paying off debt. She home schooled both of them thanks to liberal home school laws , (however, we had to have them End of Grade Tested Each Year). We're politically conservative, Reformed Church Followers and Disciples of Christ. trying to live our lives with purpose.
I'm just trying to keep my head down and not bother anyone, but be available when someone needs me.